To Be The Last of Her Kind
by tilinelson2
Summary: Aerith is the last Cetra and that makes Shinra specially interested on her. But is Shinra the only one?
1. Kidnapped

The streets were poorly lit at night. Not because there were not enough lampposts, but because the maintenance was largely ignored, so some of the lampposts were turned off or had its lights lamps broken. Some of the remaining lampposts were not aligned, leaving some parts of the streets with more light than the necessary and some parts of the street in the dark. The colorful signs of the nearby stores didn´t help the aesthetics of the place.

But they helped two men, who had just parked the car in a dark alley. They left the car in a hurry, avoiding being seen. The black suits they used helped them to blend with the darkest corners of the streets. One of the men, the shortest one, seemed to be the leader, as he directed their movements by hand gestures. The pair moved carefully through the dark alleys, trying to not be noticed. The tallest one, who had a very fair complexion and blond hair, usually took the first steps, always directed by the shortest one, whose hair was black and his complexion was darker. They stopped by the corner of a dark alley who led to a lighted street.

"Damn! You shouldn´t have parked the car so far! What will we do now?" The tallest man showed some irritation.

"Shhhh! Shut up!" The black haired man motioned the other to keep quiet and continued with a light whisper of his bass voice. "You know we couldn´t have parked the car nearer without attracting the attention of the passersby. The official car has those damned big stickers; everybody would recognize us."

"Yeah, but how will we be able to do it now? I mean, we can cross these lighted streets as if nothing was happening, but how will we be able to cross them back with our _load_ without attracting the attention of everybody?" The man gestures indicated he was pessimistic about the outcome of their plan.

"We have to do it. And we have to do it in a way no one suspects of anything." The short man´s expression was very assured.

"But we will never be able to bring our load without attracting the attention of these people. She will be kicking and yelling at us! This plan is insane!" The blond man implied that they had become crazy.

"Insane or not, we must do it. Or be fired. Do you want to lose your job? You know our boss will not give us a second chance in case we fail."

"Oh yeah." The blond man rolled his eyes. "What do you suggest so?"

"Do you see that small alley over there?" The dark haired man pointed to a small and dark alley between two large buildings, whose walls are decaying and dirty with graffiti. "We must cross this street and enter that alley. But be sure to act normally, as if we were just taking a routine walk."

The two men in black suits left the dark alley and started crossing the lighted street trying to pretend they were just taking a common walk. Many people were passing by. At the end of the block, there was a small plaza with a water fountain in the middle of it. Some people were returning home from work, some people were looking for entertainment, which could be found in the nearby streets, some people were just taking a walk. The two men tried to act as if they were two executives returning from a busy day at their company, but their faces betrayed some hints of tension, their movements were not natural and their speech was not spontaneous.

"Hey, Carl, how about that poker game? When will the boys play again?" The dark haired man tried to look natural.

"Well..." The blond man was not so comfortable and his movements were somewhat mechanical. "I think... Saturday, maybe."

"Don´t forget to invite me."

"Well..." The blond man could not stop checking the surroundings. "I will... ouch!" He released a sigh when he felt an elbow on his ribs.

"Idiot!" The dark haired man whispered angrily at him. "Stop looking around, you will attract their attention!"

"Ouch, you shouldn´t have done that." The blond man rubbed his hand over the ribs that had just been hit. "I can´t feel myself at easy..."

"If you can´t pretend you are just crossing the street with nothing else in your mind, how will you perform when we have our load with us?" The dark haired man was clearly irritated.

"This will not work, I´m sure..."

The two men finished crossing the street and entered the dark alley. Luckily for them, no one was paying attention, otherwise their odd behaviour would surely be noticed. The blond man released a sigh of relief as they were hidden by the blackness of the dark alley. They advanced a bit through the dark alley till they found a man lying on the floor. The dark haired man got irritated.

"Damn! We have to clear off our path! This guy can´t stay here!"

"What do you think this guy is up to? He looks like a beggar." The blond man shrugged. He looked confused.

"He is a dopey, that is what he is." The dark haired man was irritated and pulled the man lying on the floor by the arm. "Hey, dopey, get out of here, else you will end badly hurt!"

The dark haired man produced one pistol from inside his dark suit and shook it in the face of the dopey. "Take your crack with you and get out of here or things will become too dangerous for you, do you understand?"

The dopey guy was really scared by the rough demonstration of violence by the part of the man, so he started running away. He was hallucinating a bit, but he could realize the real threat that a pistol being shoved on his face meant, so he didn´t stop to ask or look back before he disappeared in the lighted street.

"Hey!" The blond man was furious. "Is this what you call a _stealthy approach_?" He crossed his arms in displeasure.

"That guy is a dopey! He won´t risk our venture." The dark haired man dismissed the subject as a trivial thing.

"Oh yeah, if he went into the main street screaming, it surely will not risk our venture." The blond man rolled his eyes. "I´m having a bad feeling about this affair..."

"I don´t want to listen to your whining anymore, coward! Keep moving on!"

The two men walked to the end of the alley. The dark alley was crowded with garbage cans, containers and bags, many of them ripped open. There were some cats lurking around, looking for food among the piles of trash. The smell was very bad, but the two men tried to ignore the unpleasant smell and kept advancing. At the end of the dark alley, there was a left turn. The alley to the left led to another lighted street.

"Look there. Our goal must lay at the end of this alley. All I ask you is to cross it silently and wait me near its end. And the most important thing is to hide yourself. No one can see us." The dark haired man gave the directions harshly.

"OK. How will I know which is our objective?" The blond man had an uneasy countenance.

"It is the one in pink. But don´t do anything stupid. Wait for me. Do you understand?" The dark haired man tone was the most serious.

"Yeah... alright..." The blond man hesitated.

"Go at once!" The dark haired man pushed the blond man, who almost lost his balance.

As soon as the blond man regained his balance, he started crossing the dark alley, carelessly. He was much more interested in catching a glimpse of his objective in the mission, as he had never seen her. As he lost his concentration, he traveled over a trash can which was left in the middle of the dark alley. Both the man and the trash can were sent rolling on the ground, causing a great noise. The dark haired man, who was watching the scene, shook his head negatively, while putting the palm of his hand on his face.

On the lighted street, a brown haired woman in a pink dress, who was standing up near the exit of the alley, was scared by the noise. She felt a chill down her spine, her heart started beating faster. She hurried to the middle of the street, afraid of what could have been coming from the dark alley. She forgot about her flower-selling business for some minutes and tried to mix herself with the other passersby, always looking back to the alley. She had left some of her things by the wall of the building that was in by the intersection of the lighted street and the dark alley, but she currently valued more her safety than her belongings.

After some minutes of silence, the woman dismissed the noise and resumed her flower-selling job. Inside the dark alley, the blond man was still lying on the floor, ashamed of his silly mistake. The dark haired man walked slowly towards him and scolded him in whispers.

"Idiot! Look what you have done! Now she may have run away scared of your bombastic percussive performance! The boss told us we should not return without our _load_. What will I say to him now? That an idiot made too much noise and scared our bird away? Do you think you will be able to retain your job after this failure?"

"Sorry..." The blond man was feeling bad. "I didn´t mean..."

"Shut up!" The dark haired man hit the blond man in the back of his head. "No one will care for your excuses."

"Ouch!" The blond man started rubbing the back of his head. "That hurts." Then, he stood up again. "We have nothing better to do, so I think we should check if she is still there."

"Alright. But this time, try to not do anything stupid, you moron!"

The blond man walked carefully, close to the wall which the shade of the buildings made darker. The dark haired man followed suit. When they had reached the end of the alley, they stopped, as the light from the lighted street would reveal their presence if they took just one step further. Both men were anxious, trying to breath silently, but they knew that their objective would listen to their breath if she was standing too close to the wall.

"What will we do now?" The blond man whispered inside the dark haired man's ear.

"Take a look, see if you can find her. But, please, be careful." The dark haired man's voice betrayed a feeling of hopelessness.

The blond man carefully moved his head towards the light. He caught the glimpse of a lady in a pink dress and retreated his head back. "_Wow, she looks pretty! I wonder what our boss wants with her..."_ Then, he turned to his companion.

"She is just there! What are we supposed to do?" The blond man was excited.

"You shall go there, grab her from her back and drag her here. Try to do it as fast as you can, so you may not be noticed."

"How will I be able to do that and go unnoticed?" The blond man was baffled by his companion orders.

"That is your problem! Now go!" The dark haired man pushed the blond man into the lighted street, but the blond man resisted.

"Wait! Let me study the environment."

The blond man carefully tried to peek into the lighted street again, to calculate his next moves. He slowly moved his head in the direction of the light. He caught the glimpse of the beautiful woman in a pink dress again. She was holding a wooden bucket with some flowers inside. She was offering her flowers to a couple, who didn't look interested. _"Wow! She really looks pretty! Very pretty, indeed! I wonder what kind of business our boss has with her, as he doesn't look like the kind of man interested in that..." _He retracted his head into the darkness again and turned to his companion.

"She is there! She is pretty..." The blond man couldn't hide his excitation.

"Shut up! Move your fat butt and bring her here!"

The dark-haired man pushed the blond man into the lighted street, this time with a greater strength. Surprised, the blond man hesitated a bit. He was not comfortable with the idea of dragging the girl to the alley. He knew he would attract the attention of the passersby. Besides, his actions would look like he was trying to sexually assault her, but that was not the case. All he wanted was to take her to his boss and receive his paycheck.

The blond man took a short run towards the girl, who was with her back to him. Instead of holding the woman the way his companion had instructed him, he violently grabbed her left arm, scaring her. She tried to pull herself from the sudden hold and let out a scream.

"Hey? Release me!" The girl tried to pull herself from his grab, but to no avail. "Help me! Someone help me!"

The black haired man, who was observing all the scene from the dark alley, was frustrated by the situation going out of control, but not entirely surprised. He ran after the girl and grabbed her right arm, violently. The girl was scared by the sudden grab and let her bucket fall on the street. She tried to jerk her body, but the grab was too strong and hurt her. She was really afraid of the mysterious men and kept screaming for help.

Both men dragged her through the sidewalk, taking her to the dark alley. She was kicking the air with her legs, trying to stop the men, but they eventually took her to the dark alley. Her screams succeeded in attracting the attention of people which were walking in the lighted street, but the results were not what she was expecting. No one came to help her. Some people ran away, scared; some people stayed watching the scene. But, as the theory says, if there are too much people seeing an emergency, no one helps. So, the girl was helplessly dragged to the dark alley.

After the men had dragged her some yards into the dark alley, the dark haired man started scolding the blond man again.

"Your idiot! You almost ruined everything! Was it the way I've told you to get her?"

"Sorry, I just couldn't..."

"You can´t do anything properly! If it was to sign your name on the paper, I´m sure you would do something wrong!"

"Help me! Help me!" The girl kept screaming for help.

"We will not harm you! Stop screaming, please." The blond man tried to reason with the girl.

"Enough!" The dark haired man changed his hold on the girl, passing his right arm around her right shoulder and did the same with her left shoulder. He tightened the grip on the girl, making sure she would not be able to escape. Then, he elbowed his companion´s arm.

"Release her arm, I have her held tightly. Grab her legs, so we can take her out of here faster."

"Alright!" The blond man hesitantly released his grab on the girl´s arm.

"Where are you taking me? Release me, scoundrels! Someone help me please!" The girl was desperate, screaming and shaking her legs.

The blond man walked around the girl, while the dark haired men dragged her through the dark alley. The dark haired man knew he was not in a good position, as he could not see the way. He didn't want to risk tumbling over the trash cans and falling on the ground, so he directed his companion to change his position, so he could direct the way. What he wasn't expecting was that his companion was so clumsy.

The blond man tried to hold the girl's legs, but he hesitated. He was not comfortable with the idea of holding her legs. As he hesitated, the girl managed to kick him in the face with her hard brown leather boots. The blond man released a yell of pain and staggered.

"Take that, your scoundrel! Release me now!"

The dark haired man lost his temper. He briefly released the grip on the girl´s left shoulder while pulling her strongly with his right arm, making her lose her balance. He took the gun from inside his suit and pointed it to the girl´s temple.

"Stop! Stop!" The dark haired man screamed out loud, making clear his irritation. "Girl... Aerith, isn´t it? If you don´t shut your damned mouth now and stop shaking your body, I´ll blow your brains out!"

The girl immediately stopped screaming and moving. She panicked. Her fear of being murdered was real. There was no arguing against a gun pointed to her head. He felt the dark haired man´s hand shaking, so out of control he was. She started sobbing. The blond man saw the opportunity and grabbed her legs. She didn´t protest this time. The dark haired man tucked his gun in his belt and grabbed her left shoulder again.

"Why? Why?" The girl was sobbing.

"Aerith? Is that her name? Do you know her?" The blond man asked his companion, surprised.

"No, but the boss told me some things about her."

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" The girl was paralyzed with fear, tears falling from her green eyes.

"Shut up or you will end hurt!" The dark haired man was not with patience to talk to the girl.

"Sorry, Aerith..." The blond man was feeling uncomfortable, specially with the view of the girl he had by holding her legs. "_Luckily she is wearing a long dress, otherwise..."_

"Stop talking to her like that!"

"Please, it must be a mistake... I´m poor... I´m a harmless girl... I have nothing to offer..." The girl was confused and desperate.

"Aren´t you Aerith Gainsborough? You are exactly the one we were looking for. Now stop talking or else..."

The man´s tone was enough to make her go silent. "_What do they want from me? What have I done? Can´t I be left alone? There are always people after me, demanding me things... can´t I live in peace? What have I done to deserve that?"_

The men advanced through the alleys, carrying the girl. She was now silent and felt fear, so they didn´t have problems in advancing. The blond man directed the steps of the dark haired man, so he didn´t travel over the trash cans and bags. After some minutes, they had crossed the dark alleys and were about to return to the lighted street they had crossed on their way to find the girl. The blond man´s face betrayed fear.

"What will we do now? Surely there will be people on the street. How can we go through it unnoticed?" His voice showed his despair.

"Don´t worry. Just move fast, I´ll do the rest." The dark haired man grinned in a way that made the blond man feel scared.

As soon as the dark haired man stepped outside the dark alley, into the light, the girl noticed that the street was crowded, so she risked screaming for help again, "Someone help me! Please! Help me! They will kill me!". People were shocked by the scene, but they were somewhat afraid of meddling with the dark suited men. Some people yelled at the two men and two or three courageous men walked towards them. The dark haired man let the girl´s left shoulder loose again and grabbed his pistol. He pointed the gun to the sky.

"Everyone step back! Don´t meddle with us!" The dark haired man yelled at the crowd _"Bang! Bang!" _The dark haired man fired two rounds of his pistol to the air. General panic ensued, with people crying in despair and running away. No one dared to step closer to the group, who advanced fast toward the dark alley on the other side of the street. The dark haired man pointed the gun to the girls temple again. She could feel the warmth of it.

"One more scream and your brain will be splattered all over the street! I will not give you another chance!" The dark haired man was infuriated.

"Don´t kill me... please... I´ll do whatever you want... just don´t kill me..." The girl´s eyes betrayed a strong fear.

The blond man felt compassion for the girl. He could feel her trembling in his hands. He could feel her heartbeat as well and her heart was racing like mad. He didn´t know her, but he felt she didn´t deserve to be treated so harshly.

"Stop threatening her. The boss didn´t say anything about having her killed."

"Damn! Are you trying to protect her?" The dark haired man´s eyes were on fire.

"No, I´m just trying to accomplish the task we were assigned to." The blond man had an defiant air.

"Damn! Let´s get out of here immediately!"

"And you wanted to go unnoticed..." The blond man rolled his eyes.

The group finally crossed the street and disappeared into the dark alley. No one was courageous enough to follow the group into the dark alleys, so the group reduced their pace. The dark haired man was visibly tired of walking and holding the girl. He was panting and breathing deeply. Even so, he didn´t loosen his grip on the girl. The blond man somewhat loosened his grip on the girl, in order to not hurt her ankles. He was sure the girl would not react.

And the girl didn´t. She was so frightened that she didn´t think in running away anymore. She was silently praying for help. _"How I wished it were just a bad nightmare. But I know it isn´t. I don´t know why all these things keep happening to me. What have I done to deserve it? I´m just a poor girl, trying to overcome the hardships of living in those hateful slums? Oh, Lord, isn´t it a way to attain peace? To be safe from all this harassing? To live a calm and peaceful life?"_

The group kept advancing, uninterrupted, through the dark alleys. After some minutes, the dark haired man felt they were reaching their car.

"Did you set up the protection? I don´t want her knocking me unconscious by hitting my head while I´m driving."

"Don´t worry, I´ve already set up everything."

"Where are you taking me?" The girl asked with a faint voice, her throat hurting after crying for so long.

"To our boss."

"Why?"

"Because he demanded us to take you to him, Aerith. Now, shut up your mouth if you wish to arrive there safe and sound." The dark haired man was less irritated, but he tried to keep the girl scared, so she would not try to run away or fight them.

The group walked for some yards more and they finally reached the car. The dark haired man loosened his grip on the girl´s left shoulder. He searched for the car key in his pocket. He took a long time to finally find it and there was a moment of tension. He was afraid the girl would try to escape and that his companion would let her escape, but she didn´t. The girl caught the glimpse of the stickers in the car and recognized them. She became mad.

"What are those stickers? Shinra? Are your from Shinra?" The girl´s mood switched from sadness to anger. She knew Shinra very well, as she was constantly harassed by its members, who tried to convince her to join the company.

"Well..." The blond man seemed embarrassed.

"Why are you saying that? From where did this idea come?" The dark haired man tone was angry, but betrayed a bit of embarrassment and a lot of anxiety.

"Don´t fool with me! Look at those big stickers in your car! You are from Shinra! You must be Turks!" The girl was getting angrier with their evasive answers.

"No... no..." The dark haired man was clearly embarrassed.

"Come on, do you think I am such a fool? I know who you are! Why did you do that to me? Why didn´t you just ask me to go with you? You've done that many times before, but you have never dragged me through the streets, neither have you pointed a gun to my head before." The girl was really angry.

"Oh... the boss..." The dark haired man was stuttering.

"Shut up! These stickers are just to disguise. Do you think we´d be such fools to come here with those shining stickers if we were really from Shinra?" The blond man spoke calmly. He also released the girl´s feet and ordered his companion to release her, in order to show her confidence and control of the situation. "So, please, get inside the car and you will not end hurt. We don't want to harm you."

The girl was surprised and scared by the blond man´s tone. She had realized that the dark haired man acted in a way to scare her, but she was a bit unsure about the blond man. So, she thought, when he showed confidence, he really meant what he was saying. Besides, he treated her with some respect. Though he was abducting her, she trusted him more than his companion because the blond man treated her like a woman, not like a load. She decided to comply with his orders and, as soon as the dark haired man unlocked the car doors, she got inside. The dark haired man locked the back doors as soon as she entered. She noticed that the car was modified, so there was a steel plate separating the back seats from the front seats. She was unable to see or hear what was going on in the front seats. She laid down on the back seat, cringed in fear and started sobbing again.

"_What do these guys want from me? Are them from Shinra or not? Will they harm me or not? Oh, my Lord, what have I done to deserve that? Won´t you talk to me when I most need you? Planet, why can´t I hear your voice now?"_

Outside the car, the dark haired man released a sigh of relief.

"You saved the day."

"Well, let´s get out from here." The blond man seemed more calm than the dark haired man and walked around the car to get inside.

"Yes. By this time, someone must have already called the police. Let´s move on, the boss waits us. Let me call him telling the news"

The dark haired man took his cellphone from his pocket and made a call. The call was very brief and they talked using codes. He felt a great relief when he heard the pleased voice of his boss.

"Well, let´s hurry. The boss is anxiously waiting her." The dark-haired man started the car. It started rolling slowly through the city streets.

"I wonder what the boss wants with this girl..." The blond man´s countenance showed curiosity and worry. He had sympathized with the unknown girl. "I wonder if we are doing the right thing..."


	2. Further Reflections on a Torture Chamber

The girl was laid down on the backseat of the car, crying. She had been captured by two strangers and she was very afraid of what could happen to her. She was feeling sad, frightened and many thoughts crossed her mind. _"I don´t know who they are, I don´t know why they want me so much... the man put a gun against my head and threatened to pull the trigger... I really believed it would be the end... Are they rascals from Shinra or not?... Oh, what have I done to deserve such fate?"_

She had nothing to do, but to wait. The backseat of the car was modified in a way that she couldn´t see where she was being taken to. She knew it was a security measure, but even so, that only contributed to her fear. She somewhat hoped the guys were really from Shinra Electric Company, as she was used to deal with their harassment, but then not, as the only man she really hated was from Shinra. Besides, the Shinra operatives who had tried to convince her to join the company in the past never used the violent antics this pair had just used with her. She had no idea of what would happen to her. She really feared for her life.

On the front seats, there was a collective sense of relief. Both men were relatively new in the company: the dark-haired man had been admitted eight months before; the blond man was hired just two months before. Though they had taken part in other missions, none of them were considered of critical importance by the boss. Besides, they were always part of a group with more experienced agents. Both knew failure would mean unemployment again. The dark-haired man, who was driving the car, was smiling broadly.

"Whew! We have made it! I feared we'd not be able to bring her alive. I swear you I almost pulled the trigger on her head. I was very anxious."

"You are crazy! If you had blown her brains out, what would we say to the boss? He told us to bring her no matter what, but that surely didn't mean dead." The blond man was not happy. He was touching his swollen lips carefully, trying to measure the extent of the injures caused by the girl's kick in his face.

"I'd rather save my life than to please the boss."

"Eh? What would you claim them? She had hit me with her bucket, so I had to finish her off? Get real! If you killed her, they'd come after us and kill us before asking any question. You can be sure of that."

"Well, she is here, isn't she? Now we can take her to the boss and receive the compliments."

"I'm not so sure about that. If she opens her mouth, we're screwed..." The blond man examined the surroundings. "Hey, turn left, please."

"Left?" The dark-haired man is surprised. "What for? Do you want to attract the attention of the cops?"

"We must retrieve her things."

"What for? Forget about it, the boss can buy her a million new buckets."

"It is not about that, your fool. We must erase the hints that may indicate she was kidnapped. It is to look as if she had come with us by her own will."

"I'm the leader of the mission. I'm not liking the way you are talking to me. It is me who give orders here." The dark-haired raised his tone.

"That's okay, boss!" The blond man crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "If I had let you use your approach, now she'd either be dead or she'd be back at work and you'd be with a black eye."

"It is extremely dangerous. The passersby surely have seen us taking her by force. There will certainly be cops over there."

"Why don´t you just turn left so we can see it by ourselves?"

"Alright!" The dark-haired man's tone showed he was less than happy to comply with his partner demands. The sudden turn of the wheel caused the tires to screech.

"Good! Now you want to attract all the attention to us!" The blond man was being sarcastic. "Satisfied? No cops. Now, park the car so I can get her things."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

The dark-haired man slammed the brakes, making the tires screech again. He was nervous, anxious. The blond man cursed, but he didn´t lose time: he immediately unfastened the seatbelt, opened the door and got out of the car. The street was emptier than before. The blond man went straight to the corner of the street where the flower girl was when they captured her, picked up her flower bucket and her other belongings in a hurry, opened the car trunk, threw them inside, closed it again and returned to the car. His actions were awkward, but the passersby didn't care too much about the man's behavior. Luckily, for them, no one that has seen the kidnap of the flower girl was there to see him retrieve her things, for the witnesses of the kidnap didn't really care about the flower girl's fate; they just didn't want to get involved. No one bothered to call the cops.

"That is it, let's go." The blond man slammed the door.

"Is the magic bucket safe? Are you happy now?" The dark-haired man was still irritated.

"Let's move on." The blond man tried to ignore his partner's sarcasm.

"We have already lost too much time. It is time to take the girl to the boss and forget about this day."

"Right..." The blond man's countenance betrayed that he was uncomfortable. "Don't you really know what the boss wants with the girl?"

"I don't know. That crook was all too secretive about his plans. He just mentioned that it was something really important, so important that he couldn't tell us the details. He feared the details could fall in wrong ears."

"What did he tell you exactly? Which were the orders?"

"He just told me that there was a girl named Aerith, who almost always wore pink dresses and sold flowers on Midgar streets. He told me that we had to find a way to take her to him, no matter what, for he needed to have an important conversation with her. And he told me that no one could suspect of anything, though he advised me that she most probably would not come with us by her own will."

"So then did you set this perfect plan? Wow, I´m impressed..."

"Come on, stop being a jerk. We are together in this mission. It won't help if you keep complaining."

"Alright, but take it easy, man! You almost ruined the mission. You almost killed the girl with no reason. She was not dangerous, you didn't need to do that."

"Why do you keep trying to protect her? Did the taste of her boots make you fall in love with her?"

"Oh, shut up!" The blond man tried to dismiss the idea as ridiculous, but, though he was not in love with the girl, there was something in her that made him sympathize with her, so he couldn't hide his uneasiness.

"You are mad, completely mad." The dark-haired man shook his head.

The two men stayed in silence. Meanwhile, the girl was surprised to feel that the car had stopped less than two minutes after starting up. After a minute or so, she heard strange noises in the back of the car and wondered what could have happened. She feared that the guys were up to harming her or someone else, but she heard a door being slammed and soon the car started moving again. She sighed in relief, as, for the moment, she was safe. But she was still very afraid, for she was being held captive by unknown men.

As the car traveled through the city, the girl stayed wondering what would happen to her. She started considering the options, trying to figure out the situation. Deep inside, she knew she would not come to a definitive conclusion, but at least it helped her in reducing her anxiety.

"_Oh, my... what could it be? A common kidnap, maybe? I don´t think it would make any sense... What have a poor girl like me, living in the slums, begging some money everyday on the streets, to offer to my kidnappers? Only if it was a mistake... Well, I can only think in one thing... maybe they just wanted to abduct any girl for... Oh, I don't want to consider this possibility...I think I'd rather be murdered than that... Anyway, it makes no sense as well... the guy knew my name... he talked about a boss. So it is clear they did not kidnap me for money... if they abducted me for that filthy reason, then I can consider myself a goner... the boss must be a psycho. Why me? This is one of those times I wished I looked unattractive as my beauty never helped me in anything. I thing I've never sold a flower more because I'm pretty. No, all I got was some filthy offers from perverts... The only guy I loved abandoned me... Zack... oh, Zack... No, I'm sure it was not a random kidnap. There must be something related to my nature..." _

As the time passed, the girl's mood became more and more subdued. For her, it was as if she was in the car for hours, but the car has not traveled for more than fifteen minutes. She tried to think of her situation to not let herself be overcome with feelings despair and sadness. She knew nothing she could think of would help her get out of that dangerous situation, but to keep sane was a something she really needed in order to face the dangers she'd soon have to endure.

"_I can´t help but thinking it is Shinra doing. Those stickers in the car, the black suits... most probably the guys were Turks. But then, I´m so used to the harassment by Tseng and the others... they´ve never treated me with violence... I can't say Tseng is a friend as he usually says he is, but, at least, he always treated me with respect. I just hope it is nothing related to that damned doctor... Hojo!" _Her eyes were on fire. "_That man... it pains me so much to remember the experiments that monster made in me and my beloved mom... oh, mother... I can't believe that scoundrel murdered my mother! Now I'm alone... the last... Ancient... That man, I loathe him! I can´t stand the thought of that man putting his filthy hands on me again..." _

The girl started sobbing. She tried very much to avoid feeling overemotional about the situation, but the flow of emotions the sad memories caused were to much for her to stand. She silently sobbed for some moments. "_Why? Should I deserve to endure all that suffering... all that pain... all that humiliation... be the victim of abominable acts... just because... I was born the way I am? Just because... my mother... was from another race? This is unfair! How the world can be so unfair? Why don´t we just treat ourselves as if we were equals? We share the same pains and the same pleasures. We want more or less the same things: to be happy, to live a comfortable life with the ones we love. Why do people insist in harming the others? Why? Why? Isn't there an answer? Won't you tell me, please? Why do you always talk to me when I don't need you, planet?" _

The girl kept sobbing silently for some minutes. The car kept rolling through the streets. The two men in the front seats were in silence. The dark-haired man was more calm now and driving carefully. They were still not in good terms after the last exchange of heated words, so none had the will to break the silence. The dark-haired man lit a cigarette and stayed humming a tune while the blond man drummed the inner door's handle and looked outside, paying attention to the buildings, the people passing by, the colored neon signs. Both men were feeling uneasy.

Tired of sobbing, the girl wiped out the tears from her face, drying her cheeks with her dress skirt. She tried to think in her possibilities again. _"Could it be another group interested on my uncommon nature? Could it be someone who knows something else that I don't? That makes me feel even more scared... but maybe I could learn more about my heritage, about what I'm supposed to do, being an Ancient... On the other hand, they may have evil plans in their mind. But I think it can't be worse than Hojo... Well, if just Zack was here to protect me... but then, he left me anyway... Maybe he is just another rascal from Shinra now. I'm OK with the fact that he may have found some other girl... but would it hurt to write a letter telling me so? I could have moved on... maybe we'd still be friends... Oh, Zack... Zack... I was all yours... I've surrendered myself to you completely... and you ignored me... you just ignored me... you don't know how it hurts..." _The girl's eyes became wet again. _"Looks like my whole life is just an endless stream of sorrow, pain and suffering... I try to stay positive... to be strong... to be good. But the things always go wrong with me... I don't know what to do anymore... Sometimes I wish I were just a normal girl, so I'd not carry all the world upon my shoulders..."_

The girl's lament was interrupted when she noticed the car had stopped and its engine was silenced. The girl was taken by an increasing anxiety. Her heart went racing madly. She knew that soon she would face her destiny and learn who were the guys who had kidnapped her. If knowing who kidnapped her would end that anxiety, the most likely options made the girl wish she would stay forever in that car, for at least she was safe while inside its boundaries. But her apparent safety was not meant to last for long.

The dark-haired man decided the silence went too far.

"Hey, let's stop this stupid bickering. We are already at our destination. Our mission is complete."

"Yeah..." The blond man was still trying to avoid his companion.

"Hey, let's stop that crap! What will you profit acting like a jerk? Grow up! We have more important things to care for, like that damned..."

"Hey, wait! Look how you talk of her!" The blond man was irritated.

"What happened to you? Are you in love with the girl? Is it?" The dark-haired man accused his partner mockingly.

"That is not it!" The man hesitated. _"Or maybe that is..." _And added. "That is just that she doesn't deserve to be treated like that. Why would you call her that?"

"Because I'm not in love with her like you. For me, she is just a _load."_

"I'm not in love with her! Anyway, let's take her to the boss."

"Oh yeah, let's take her to the boss before you decide it is a good idea to set her free. Let me call the boss first, to make him ready to receive his _load_."

Both men left the car. The dark-haired man called his boss, using his cellphone. The blond man stayed walking in circles, anxious. He didn't want to admit if, but he had grown an unnatural sympathy for the kidnapped woman. He didn't know anything about her, but he would bet anything that she was not a bad person. Besides being pretty, she had an innocent air on her that puzzled him. Knowing a bit of his boss' personality, the blond man couldn't understand why the boss demanded to have that girl kidnapped. _"Why would that young lady be of interest of the corporation? Isn't she just a flower seller? Why would the boss spend money, time, personnel just to bring her here? That just makes no sense, with this war going on... All this secrecy about the mission gets on my nerves. Sometimes I wish I could release her and tell the boss we had failed in our mission, but now we've already gone too far, there is no way to return..."_

As the blond man noticed his companion had finished the phone call, he unlocked one of the back doors and opened it. The girl, who was lying on the backseat, was startled. She stared at the blond man with fear in her green eyes. The blond man tried to keep his serious countenance, but deep inside he was very moved by the sadness and despair in the girl' s face.

"Please, come out, slowly. Don't try to do anything smart, or you will end hurt."

The girl just nodded, betraying all her anxiety. She started getting out of the car and, trembling in anxiety, she hit her limbs and head several times on the car door and door frame. The blond man waited outside the car, without saying a word. The girl's fear had returned with full force.

Frightened, she examined the surroundings. They were inside a poorly-lit and small garage. The flickering fluorescent lamp barely emitted light enough to allow the girl to discern the objects in the room. Dripping air-conditioning pipes made the garage damp, with small puddles on the cemented floor and mold on the walls. The garage itself would be reason enough to make the girl feel more frightened, but she was used to ambients like that, as she lived in the slums. What made her frightened was who she would meet in that building. If she had to guess, she'd guess she would not meet the same old Turks, but more dangerous people, maybe a mad scientist.

"Let's hurry, the boss is waiting for us!" The dark-haired man shouted at his companion.

The blond man pretended he had not listened to his companion. He watched the girl step out of the car. She could barely keep her balance, as her legs were shaking. Her eyes betrayed so much fear that they made the blond man feel uneasy. _"Look at the girl... she is so frightened. I just hope the boss doesn't have any cruelty in his mind. It is plain clear that she is innocent and harmless..."_

"Please, come with us. We mean you no harm." The blond man's tone was reassuring.

The girl didn't say a word. She tried to walk, but she almost lost her balance. After taking a deep breath, she tried again, more carefully, and this time she managed to move some inches toward the man. The man motioned to her to walk around the car with his arms. The girl started walking around the car, slowly, leaning on the car to keep her balance. The Shinra stickers still puzzled her. She was inclined to believe they were from Shinra, but Shinra, in her mind, meant luxurious offices, not creepy garages, so her fear increased. Her greatest fear was that the creepy garage meant some hidden laboratory where she would be experimented on.

As the blond man slammed the car door, she almost fainted, losing her balance and almost falling on the floor. Her heart was racing madly and she let a muffled scream in terror. She paused for some moments to recover from the shock and resumed walking. The dark-haired man was standing by an old elevator´s door, with a displeased look in his face. He was clearly impatient. The girl walked towards him, closely followed by the blond man.

They entered the elevator and the dark-haired man pushed one of the buttons. The door closed and the elevator started working. All the three people inside it were speechless. From the corner of the eye, the girl noticed that the blond man´s lips were swollen from her kick. Seconds later, the door opened again. The group followed through the corridor, the dark-haired man leading, followed by the girl and the blond man. The group walked in silence though the dark carpeted corridor. At the end of the corridor, a faint light came from a room, whose door was partially open. There were other doors, but the corridor was so dark and the girl so anxious that she didn't even notice them. The dark-haired man advanced faster, to announce their presence to the boss, motioning the girl to wait. While the girl and the blond man waited, there was an embarrassing feeling between them.

"Sorry... for the kick..." The girl whispered, staring down.

"Uh... that's ok..." The blond man was surprised by the girl's apologies as he'd never expect something like that. After all, he was still her kidnapper.

The dark-haired man returned and motioned for the girl to enter the room. The girl hesitated, but somehow she felt less anxious than before. The door was fully opened for her to enter. She carefully stepped inside the room. The room was a very small room, with only one lamp on the ceiling, providing poor illumination. There were some shelves filled with papers by the walls, one large desk in the middle, cluttered with papers. In front of the desk there was only one chair vacant. Behind the desk, there was a man seated in a comfortable chair, with his back to her. The man was wearing a black suit, like the ones the men who kidnapped her were wearing, though his suit was made of much better materials. The man had long hair, tied in a ponytail. The girl immediately recognized him and became angry, but she waited for him to say something.

"Very well, you two are dismissed." The man behind the desk ordered the other two men, with his calm bass voice. "Leave me alone with her. And no peeking."

As the two men hesitantly left the room and closed the door. Meanwhile, the girl was furious. She had recognized the man, first because of his appearance, then because of his voice.

"Please, take a seat."

The girl seated on the chair, but she had something else in her mind. "_I´ll strangle him! I can´t believe it was him who was behind all this pathetic kidnapping! _

The man rotated in his chair and stopped facing the girl. He was wearing sunglasses. "Hello, Aerith".

"Tseng!"


	3. Knowing Her Enemies

"Tseng! You rascal! I just can't believe it was you that made those guys kidnap me!" Aerith was furious and stood up.

"Hey, Aerith, calm down! You are my friend, aren't you? I´m your friend." Tseng's tone was cool, as if he was unaware of the girl's temper.

"Friend, heh? What was it, so? Tseng, you know I don't want anything to do with you Shinra guys, but this time you went too far!" The girl seated again, but she was still very angry.

"Why? Just because I asked the new guys to bring you here for a talk?" Tseng seemed confused.

"Bring me here? You know I would have talked to you if you had come to me. Why did you need to have those scoundrels bringing me here the way they did?"

"Sorry, Aerith, I'm not understanding you. What do you mean?"

"First off, take out these sunglasses. It gets on my nerves to see you wearing them in a dark room like this one."

"Alright..." Tseng took out the sunglasses. "But now tell me, what do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Do you think it was needed to drag me by force through the streets?"

"What?" Tseng was incredulous.

"Do you think it was needed to point a gun against my head and threaten to blow my brains out?"

"What? Do you mean the guys pointed a gun at you?"

"Twice." The girl crossed her arms. She had a very serious gaze in her face.

"I just can't believe that! These guys are crazy!" Tseng slapped his own thighs. He was indignant. "Oh, Aerith, is it true?"

"Of course it is. You can ask all the thirty passersby who had seen it. Luckily they all chickened out when your assistant fired the gun to the air, otherwise I could have been shot right there in a gunfight."

"I just can't believe that! There new guys are morons! I knew I should have asked Reno, Rude, Elena or do it myself!"

"Have you realized why I am mad at you? Then they threw me in the car like a bag and locked me in the backseat. You don't know how much I cried, in despair. It was the worst moment of my life..." Aerith hesitated, remembering the experiments Hojo has made on her. "Well, not the worst, but it came close."

"Oh, Aerith, forgive me by their lack of manners... I didn't know that..." He was clearly embarrassed.

"Well... what do you want from me, anyway?"

"Aerith... Aerith Gainsborough... I've always loved your name..." Tseng didn't know how to start.

"Cut the crap, Tseng! Spill it out!" Aerith's tone was threatening.

"Oh well... Aerith...I've brought you here to talk of very important matters."

"Say it."

"I'd like to ask you... if you wouldn't like to... to..."

"To?"

"Join us."

"Oh, no! No no no no no! Not again!" The girl turned her face, avoiding eye contact, while nodding and motioning with her hand for him to stop. "Tseng! How many times will I have to tell you that I don't want to join Shinra now and I'll never what to join it?"

"But... Aerith... please, listen to me once..."

"What is it? Do you think I have what it takes to be a SOLDIER? Or a Turk?"

"No, Aerith, it is not that..." Tseng was in a defensive position.

"It is because I'm an Ancient, isn't it? Because I'm the last of the Ancients. That is why you want me to join you, isn't it?"

"No..."

"Please, Tseng, don't lie straight faced to me!"

"Sorry, Aerith... you know, we really want you..."

"To take me to that mad doctor? In order to have him kill me, as he killed my mother? No, thanks, I think I'll pass this one." Aerith's sarcastic tone made Tseng shiver in his chair.

"But..."

"Ah, do you think I'll take pleasure in being mercilessly experimented on, tortured, till I die?"

"Of course not!" Tseng shouted the words as if they were clogged in his throat. "Please, Aerith, I'll never let something like that to happen to you."

"So why do you need me?"

"I think you could help us with our business. You know, our company always needs new energy reserves in order to bring people the best the technology can provide them, improving their lives."

"Except for the slums."

"Oh, please, Aerith, don't make it more difficult than it is."

"Ha, is it me who makes the things difficult? Your damned company has installed these plates, so we can't even see the sky. The air is terrible, dry and dusty. Have you ever felt your lungs burning during the driest days? Of course not, your offices are always so clean, neat, decorated with the best furniture and apparel, with fresh and clean air from your air conditioning systems. Meanwhile, we are condemned to live amongst piles of garbage, dust, heat, darkness, mold; living in wrecked trains, abandoned trailers and poor wooden cottages. Is this the way you are improving our lives? I'm impressed."

"Oh, Aertih... we intend to change that... that is why we need more energy..."

"Now that you are exhausting Midgar, you want to exhaust other places. Can't you see the soil is completely deserted around the city? Have you seen many flowers around? Grass? Trees? Come on, Tseng, your company is killing the world."

"But, Aerith, if you join us, we will pay you good wages. You will be able to take your mother with you and live in a comfortable apartment in Midgar."

"And what about all the thousands of poor guys who will not receive good wages, who will keep on living in the slums, breathing that harmful air, amongst piles of garbage, not even being able to see the sun? I'm not an egoist! I care more for their fates than to my own fate. If I die, I die, I don't care, my spirit will carry on. I'd easily sacrifice myself if that would help them."

"But Aerith, you can help us to improve their lives if you join us..."

"You know it is not true. You know that your company doesn't care about their fate. You know that Shinra Electric Company would rather see them dead than to help them. You are so wealthy; you could take some of your billions to help people there. But no, you want to seal them in the underground, so they will not pollute your dreamy city."

"Aerith..."

"Shinra was always a deception to me: Hojo, you Turks harassing me, Zack..."

"Oh, don't say that about Zack."

"Why not? He abandoned me. Luckily I've never surrendered to his bold advances..."

"No, Aerith, that is not fair with him."

"Oh, now the blame is on me. I'm not fair enough to Zack Fair. He is fair... to keep me waiting here, without bothering to answer one of my letters."

Tseng swallowed hard. _"What will I do now? I'm with his letters. I can't send them to him..."_

"If you know something, please, tell me." The mood of the girl changed. She was now sad and anxious. "It took me... a long time... to get over him... and I think... I... still... love him... if that feeling can... be called love..."

"Aerith..."

"Please!" Her eyes were wet.

"Aerith..." Tseng closed his eyes. _"How can I tell her that? No, I can't, I just can't tell her."_ He opened his eyes, but he was very uneasy to have to come out with an excuse. "He... is just... Well... I can't tell you... it is classified information... but he hadn't abandoned you..."

"Ah, Tseng, please... you are... fooling with me. Tell me what... you know... please! Did he... get another... girl? That... Turk... Cissnei?"

"It is not that."

"So why do you keep protecting him? I mean, I've waited for him all this time. I've never had any man..."

"Aerith..."

"Look, I'm almost 22 and I've never had any intimacy with any man, just waiting for him. I know you will consider me odd for not having had any intimacy at such age..."

"I don't want to listen about your..."

"You know, this feeling corrodes me from inside. I may be mad, but I stayed true for him and how does he pay me back? I've never kissed any man, just waiting for him to be the one..."

"Stop! I don't want to listen about your intimacy!" Tseng had one of his rare emotional bursts.

"Uh? Sorry, Tseng, it is just... It is still hard..." Aerith suddenly changed from angry to subdued.

"Well, Aerith, I don't wan't to spend your time anymore. I see you will not join us. But I have something serious to tell you."

"What is that?" Aerith wiped out the tears from her eyes.

"You know... the same way Shinra is interested on you, there are some other people who would love to get the possession of the last Ancient."

"Why?"

"You know why, Aerith. You have powers no one has. Many people would want to have your powers in their hands. Some of them are evil."

"Damn! It sounds like I'm an object, not a woman..."

"I know that is not a nice thing to hear, Aerith, but you must trust us. Even if you will not join Shinra, I'll keep on protecting you from these other groups. There is one certain group, which is very dangerous. They are anti-Shinra, anti-civilization. They would blow up the whole Midgar, killing everybody, for nothing. I suspect they are after you. They have hacked into our computers and stole lots of info about the Ancients and the perspective of exploring the Mako energy from the hypothetic Promised Land."

"No... not that... as if my life was not hard enough... there are more crazy people after me…"

"Oh, Aerith, please... take care... take much care... we will be trying to protect you, but, please, take care. Never let those guys put their hands on you. We have fought many fierce battles against them. They are terrorists, murderers. If they catch you, they will abuse you, torture you, kill you. I'm not asking you to support Shinra. I'm just advising you against them. After all, we are still friends, aren't we?"

"I really don't know, Tseng. I really don't know. I don't know why I still trust you, but, well, I'll take care. Thanks."

"Whew! That makes me feel relieved."

"May I go now?"

"Well... Aerith... If you wait some minutes, I can give you a ride back home..."

"That is not necessary."

"Oh, it is. It is already too late. Streets become more and more dangerous as the time passes."

"Not in the slums. For them, it doesn't matter if it is day or night. There is no sun..."

"Even so, I'll not be in peace if I'm not certain that you have arrived home in safety."

"Well... I know I shouldn't, but I think I'll accept your ride."

"Thanks, Aerith, thanks."

Tseng stood up and silently motioned Aerith to stand up too. She complied with his request and walked to the door, where she stood waiting for him. He was searching for something in his desk, buried under piles of paper which rested on the desk. "Damn! Where are those stupid things when we most need them? Look at all this garbage over my desk!" He picked up a paper. "Tseng, you were chosen among our thousands of customers to receive a special offer for you cell phone plan..." He tore the paper and threw it over his shoulder, shaking his head. Then, he picked up another paper. "Come and visit the new Don Corneo nightclub! Bring this coupon and pay half price for one of our special services."

Aerith was laughing noiselessly, covering her mouth. She noticed that Tseng has returned the last paper to the desk. "Hey, Tseng, do you intend to take advantage of the nightclub offer?"

"Of course not!" He was serious. "Why are you asking me that?"

"It is because..." Aerith couldn't hold the laughter. "Because you threw away the cell phone offer and kept the nightclub coupon." She was pointing the place where he had returned the paper and laughing.

"What?" Tseng seemed shocked with the girl's observation. "No, no..." He was desperately trying to find the paper again. Aerith couldn't stop laughing of the man's embarrassment with her joke. "No, I don't want anything to do with those filthy places." He found the coupon and desperately tore it in many small fragments. His cheeks were crimson red for blushing.

"Oh, Tseng, you didn't need to ruin your tomorrow's plans because of me." Aerith laughed while talking.

"Tomorrow's plans? What plans? Aerith, I despise nightclubs! I never intended to visit that one." His tone was serious and betrayed that he was upset for being the target of the joke.

"I don't have anything against you going having fun over there. It is not because I'm still pure that I don't understand your men's desires..."

"Stop it, Aerith! You are getting on my nerves! How can you be so silly..." Tseng was now irritated.

"Ah, Tseng, can't you take a joke?" Aerith was making a lovely face, pretending to be sad.

"Ah... sorry. I can't understand how you can laugh of life in your situation."

"Well..." Aerith adopted a more serious tone. "Tseng, if I laugh or I cry, that will not change who I am, where I am or which will be my destiny. But it may change how I feel. My life will never be easy, but it can be a bit easier if I am more positive about it, if I try to cheer up a bit. It will never be a fairy tale, but at least I can have some fun, laugh a bit in the rare peaceful times among the recurring tragedies and worries. If I hadn't joked with you, what would have changed? Nothing but my own mood, my own state of mind."

"I think you have a point... well, it is getting late and I still need to deal with some business today. I'm ready. Let's go, Aerith."

He walked to the door, opened it and asked for the girl to follow him. The girl noticed that there was a light coming from a room in the middle of the corridor. She was surprised by that, as she had not noticed there were other rooms in the corridor when she was coming to Tseng's office. Tseng stopped by the open door and entered the room, motioning Aerith to wait outside. Inside, the two men were silently watching TV, each one holding a beer can in their hands.

"I'll be taking Aerith home. Can you please give me the car keys?"

"Huh? Yeah." The dark-haired man searched for the key in his pocket. "Here it goes." He extended his arm towards Tseng, without taking his eyes from the TV.

"You two, wait for me to return. We have something mostly serious to discuss when I return."

Tseng turned his back to the men and was about to leave the room, when the blond man remembered about the Aerith's belongings on the car trunk. "Hey, Tseng! Her things are in the trunk."

"Thanks."

Tseng left the room with the key in his hand. He escorted Aerith to the elevator in silence. The blond man stood up and started peeking at the corridor. The dark-haired man was confused by his partner reaction.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Me? Just taking a look…"

"Taking a look at what? Are you chickening out?"

"No, no, we are already screwed."

"So, what? Ah, I know, you are taking a look at the girl, aren't you?"

"Oh, no..." His voice betrayed embarrassment.

"Come on, of course you are! Look at you, all embarrassed. You are in love with her, aren't you?"

"I'm not..."

"Come on!" The dark-haired man joined the blond man by the door. "Your eyes are following the shaking of her hips. By the way, what a nice..."

"Shhhh! They will listen to us!"

"Admit it, you are in love with her." The dark-haired man returned to the couch. "Well, now that you know where you can find her, you can have her one of these days..."

"What are you talking about?" The blond man was becoming irritated with his partner.

"You can have her one of these days. If we receive the money from our mission today, you may have a party tomorrow, if you want. Maybe I do that too."

"What?" The blond man turned to his partner, clearly irritated.

"Come on, man, do you think she stays in the streets at night selling just flowers? Nobody buys flowers from a flower lady. The guys are there to buy something else..."

"Don't talk of her that way! She is not what you are saying she is! I'm sure, she is innocent, pure..."

"Pure?" The dark-haired man spilled the beer he was drinking and started laughing. "The girl is a hottie and she is on her twenties. Do you really think she is innocent and pure? Oh, man, you live in the dreamland!"

"I don't know why you hate her."

"I don't hate her, but why do you think our boss will personally take her home? Be sure it will take him a couple of hours. And I thought he was not much into girls..."

"Shut up! Don't ever talk of her that way again!"

"Alright, lovebird, sorry if I offended you and your princess." The dark-haired man's tone was sarcastic.

Tseng and Aerith were on the elevator, in silence. When the door opened on the garage, Aerith, still uneasy with the creepy appearance of the place, complained to Tseng.

"Why are you in such a place? I've always though Shinra meant luxurious offices."

"Aerith, no kidding, the situation is really serious. We have to hide here in this building to not attract the attention of the foes we are battling."

"Hmm… looks like it is really dangerous. My first thought was that it was one of the secret laboratories of that damned doctor Hojo."

"Oh, no, he'd never accept anything that was not state-of-art technology."

"I hope I'll never meet that creep again. He performed terrible experiments on me and mom... he killed her..." Aerith stared down, feeling sad again.

"Sorry to hear that, Aerith. I've never liked that man."

"Well, let's go, I don't want to waste more from your time." The girl was trying to not be overcome by the sad feelings again.

"Alright... Well, let's see..." Tseng opened the car trunk. "Looks like these things are yours..."

Aerith came closer to him and looked at the things in the car trunk. She was surprised to see her belongings inside the trunk, as she already considered them gone for good.

.

"Wow! These are really my things... I've never thought..."

"Well, take them."

Aerith was smiling again. Tseng was touched by the fact that someone could become happy for retrieving things that valued less than 50 gil. He stayed thinking for some time about the contrast between his life and the life of the poor girl from the slums. He was never satisfied with all the things he had. He had money, a comfortable home, a successful career, power, recognition among his peers. On the other hand, Aerith had much less than him, but she was always cheerful, upbeat and friendly. She lived in the slums, had an humiliating job, no luck in her life, suffered constant harassment, had endured terrifying experiences during her childhood and still could laugh about silly things and be really content to retrieve a wooden bucket, a pair of scissors and some ribbons.

"Hey, Tseng, is it true that you are hiding in such a place like that because you fear the attack from your opponents?"

"It is true, Aerith. They are really dangerous. We had to triple the security around the Shinra main offices, fearing a terrorist attack."

"So why do you have those big Shinra stickers in your car?"

"Oh..."

"That is a very foolish thing to do. One of the guys who kidnapped me had told me they were fake, to make people think they were from Shinra. That would make sense if true, but it makes no sense to hold secretive operations in a place like this one and go out in a car with such a big stickers. It is as if you had big targets painted in your car."

"Now that you say it, you are right. I'll order them removed as soon as possible. See, you are very smart, Aerith. You should really join Shinra..."

"No, thanks, Tseng, I'm too good for you all. I think I should charge for my job as a consultant for Shinra in safety strategy." She stuck her tongue out of her mouth, playfully.

"Oh, Aerith, you amaze me..."

Both Tseng and Aerith got into the car. Tseng started it and drove around the streets, in silence. Aerith was also in silence, holding her wooden bucket as if it was something really valuable. The streets were now mostly empty and only a few cars would be seen traveling through them. It was really dangerous to walk alone, mainly for a girl. After some minutes like that, Aerith broke the silence.

"Tseng... please... don't punish those guys..."

"Which guys?"

"The ones who had kidnapped me."

"Oh, those crooks? The really deserve a lesson. I'll deal with them as soon as I return to the office."

"No, Tseng, please! Let it be."

"Why? Didn't they treat you badly? Didn't they threaten to kill you? That is simply unacceptable." Tseng was surprised.

"Yes, they did, but... to punish them is to seek vengeance. No, I don't need that. It will not bring anything good for me. You may tell them they were wrong, but I see no need in punishing them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am, Tseng. Nothing really bad had happened; let's leave it as it is. There is no need to do something that will not bring any good to anyone."

"Well, Aerith, if you think it is the right thing to do, so be it."

The rest of the trip went uneventfully. The girl remained in silence, thinking about the emotions provided by the eventful night. Despite of all the traumatic events, particularly having a gun pointed to her head, she was somewhat calm. Aerith had developed a system on her brain to not hold hard feelings after facing dangerous situations which didn't have a significant result, otherwise she would not be able to endure the endless stream of tragic, dangerous and frightening events in her life. Tseng was in silence, with lots of things on his mind. He had to consider options for the fierce war Shinra was having against the dangerous foes. He also had to think what to do to the Turks who had performed very badly the task they were assigned to, almost killing the priceless last Ancient. He had to plan a way to protect that priceless Ancient, who was so valuable to Shinra.

Besides all that, he couldn't stop thinking about the girl who amazed him. "I really can't say what is in this girl's mind, but she constantly amazes me with her wisdom. Poor girl, she didn't deserve that traumatic experience, as she doesn't deserve to lead such a sad life. I hope I can help her someway. I must find a way to send her letters to Zack. I can feel that she still loves him. Zack is a good guy, he will know how to make her happy, how to treat her accordingly. Besides that, I know Zack will find a way to convince her to help us to find the Promised Land. Anyway, she is a nice girl who deserves some happiness. I wonder if all her wisdom comes from the knowledge inherited from the Ancients, but I hope it is not that. I really want to believe it is just she that is so amazing naturally, so we can dream with a world filled with Aeriths."


	4. A Shocking Experience

Tseng was driving the Shinra car back to his hideout. After leaving Aerith in safety, he had some business to attend before the night was over. He had to deal with the two Turks who had kidnapped Aerith. He was unsure about how he'd have to act. He wanted to fire the guys immediately, but Aerith had asked him to not punish them. They surely deserved some kind of punishment for their terrible performance in the mission, but he had not chose what to do. It would not be an easy decision, but he had to go for it, anyway. Some minutes later he arrived in the temporary Turk headquarters. Oh yeah, Aerith was right about the stickers. He would have them removed as soon as possible. Maybe that would be a perfect mission for the two clowns. No, they had to learn to take their responsibilities as Turks seriously. Imagine if they had killed Aerith. What would Tseng do? He couldn't leave it as if nothing had happened. Well, his decision would be harder than he thought it would be.

Tseng parked the car in the hideout garage, left it in a hurry and waited impatiently for the elevator. He was the kind of person who liked to deal with his problems immediately. There were just three floors, it should not take too long for the elevator to come down. Probably someone had left the door open, so the elevator would not work. How he hated that building. He was so used to the luxury offices in Shinra Building. He would understand the need to leave the main offices for a while, but it didn't need to be such a decrepit building. While lost in his thoughts, the elevator finally arrived. Tseng lost no time to go to the upper floor. He was afraid the two men had left the building while he was out. If that was the case, then he'd surely have to fire them. He could accept failure, but not cowardice. But as soon as he got to the corridor on the upper floor, he noticed they were still there. He didn't know if it was better, though, as firing them for desertion would be an easy solution for his dilemma.

Tseng entered the room and the two guys were in silence, watching some stupid post-midnight TV show. The black-haired man was with a beer can in his hand. Though Tseng was not comfortable with the idea of the men drinking while on duty, he knew that a beer would hardly do anything to those crooks who were used to spend all the night drinking strong liquor in the pubs.

"Hey, you two, go immediately to my room. We have important things to discuss."

The two men were not surprised, though they were not at ease as well. They knew the boss would discuss their performance in their last assignment. The probability that the girl had opened her mouth about their behavior was very high, so they expected to receive a big reprimand. They left their couch and followed the boss to his room. The two men were not in good terms and they were not in good spirits as well, so they didn't exchange a word till they were inside Tseng's office. Arriving there, the black-haired man tried to act in a friendly manner, trying to make Tseng lose the focus on the reprimand and eventually forgetting any punishment he had in mind.

"Did you have a good time with the girl?" He asked grinning.

"What?" Tseng was confused.

"Come on, Tseng, we know why you went to take her home personally. She is really hot." The blond man eyed his companion with a furious gaze.

"Aerith? Come on, you don't know what you are saying. I'd never do that. And she would be the last person in the world to do that as well. You don't know anything about her."

"Really, I thought..." The blond man grinned and his companion embarrassment.

"Shut up! You think too much! Now, I have something very serious to discuss with you."

The dark-haired man swallowed hard. "Tseng..."

"Aerith told me about your behavior during the mission."

The dark-haired man went pale. His companion was frightened as well. "But..."

"Shut up! What had I asked you? To bring her for a talk. What have you done? Kidnapped her violently, created a fuzz in the streets, put other people in danger and, if that was not already enough, threatened to kill Aerith."

"But..."

"Do you know what would it mean if Aerith had died? Do you have the faintest idea of who she is?"

"No..." Both men were really anxious. The blond man was speechless. The dark-haired man could only babble some monosyllabic words.

"She is the last of the Ancients!" Tseng was really angry. His usual coolness made him more menacing when he was really angry.

"Ancients...? What is that?" The dark-haired man was confused.

"Don't you know?" Tseng was surprised.

"No..."

"Cetra?"

"I still don't get it."

"Oh, my!" Tseng released a sigh in frustration. "Well, how can you value the last Ancient if you don' t even know what an Ancient is? I thought those incompetent morons would have told you during your training what an Ancient is and why she is so important for us."

The blond man recovered the courage to speak. "Well, to be sincere, I have never heard about them. During the mission, I wondered what would you want with that girl."

"I thought she was a street harlot..."

"Enough!" Tseng was irritated and confused. "Enough! She is the last Ancient and she is of extreme importance for us. The Ancients were a race that lived in this planet a long time ago and they wee rumored to have great powers. We need her alive and by our side. That is why I always keep an eye on her. That is why we Turks protect her. That is why we want her to join Shinra. That is why killing her would be a tragedy."

"Sorry about that. I didn't know she was so important." The dark-haired man was not really sincere, with some hints of sarcasm in his voice.

"Even if she were just a prostitute that I wanted to spend some hours with, your mission would have been an utter failure, smarty. When I asked you to bring her here, without attracting unwanted attention, it never meant killing her, nor threatening everybody in the streets."

"Sorry..."

"Well... I don't really know what I should do about you. You were incompetent and almost ruined everything. The natural choice would be to punish you. Fire you. Yes, that should be the logical choice. We can't trust on incompetent people like you. The Turks are a strategic organization inside Shinra. We are always needed for the most important missions. I can't have two guys here who manage to mess up a simple mission like this one you messed up. No, I can't let you remain as Turks."

"See what you have done?" The blond man pushed the dark-haired man's shoulder, angrily. "Back to unemployment!"

"Hey, it was also your fault..."

"Shut up!" Tseng seated in his chair. "I don't want to hear any excuses now. I should be signing you off now, but someone asked me to not do so. I just don't know what to do with you. I feel that I can't assign you any important mission. I really don't know what to do..."

Tseng's hesitation made both men shiver. They were scared and confused. Who would have asked them to not be fired? What would Tseng do? Their future was in his hands and they were really afraid of what Tseng had in mind. Tseng was known for being merciless. He was known to be cold-blooded and emotionless. He would not pity them. They were afraid not being fired would mean something worse than being fired.

"Well, I have an idea." Tseng broke the silence after some seconds. "It looks like a really bad idea, but... anyway..." He sighed deeply. "We must have Aerith under constant surveillance. We are afraid of an anti-Shinra group, which seems to be interested in her. You two could keep an eye on her. Keep a constant watch on her, without harassing her, though. In case you notice anything strange, please, call us immediately. And, please, don't screw up this time. If you screw up this mission too, I'll fire you immediately, as it was my original intention, had she not appealed me to not punish you.

The men were doubly surprised. First because they concluded that it was the girl who appealed Tseng to not punish them because Tseng had not been with anybody else other than her. The dark-haired man was feeling bad. He regretted treating the girl so unkindly. They were also surprised by Tseng's idea. They had never thought Tseng would give them a second chance with the girl after their poor performance on the mission. The blond man's countenance showed a great surprise. For him, it would not only be an opportunity to keep him in the job, but also to be near that mysterious girl. Though he was supposed to keep a silent watch on her, he knew it would be an amazing experience to share more time with her. Now knowing that she was also good-hearted and special, he was even more interested in her than he was before. He didn't know what being an Ancient really meant, but who would not want to be the loved one of the last member of a special race? Specially when the last member of this race was pretty and charming. Oh yeah, if Tseng knew his infatuation for her, he would fire him immediately, so it was better to keep his mouth shut and his expectations low.

"Well, you start you mission tomorrow. Usually she is out from 9am to 10pm, so I'll let you arrange your schedule at your own will, but, please, never, ever, let her unguarded. That will be the last chance I'll give to you. Please, don't fail. Or something really bad will happen to you both. And I am not talking of unemployment."

"Yes. Thanks, Tseng." The black-haired man started acting as the leader again. "Let's go, man, let's protect her."

"Hey, stop acting foolishly. She is safe at home for now. I'll go home and get some sleep." The blond man would not accept the dark-haired man as his leader anymore. "Tseng, where does the girl live?"

"She lives in Sector 5 of the slums, near the market."

"Alright, I'll be there tomorrow." The blond man left, ignoring his partner.

"Hey..." The dark-haired man followed the blond man. "Excuse me, Tseng. Can I go now?"

"Yes. But don't ever forget about your mission."

"Thanks, Tseng."

Tseng dismissed the man with a wave of hand. He stayed in his office for some time. Partly because he had some papers to oversee and some strategies to think of. That anti-Shinra group was making him lose his sleep. They had already lost many Shinra officers in the last months. Worse than that, their terrorist tactics made it almost impossible to prevent further attacks. As the secret intelligence service of Shinra, the Turks were under pressure. Tseng had to come up with a new strategy, something that would allow them to stop the coward terrorist attacks and make Shinra gain the upper-hand in the war.

To make matters worse, the terrorist group had hacked all that important data about the Ancients. Whether it was a deliberate move or not, he couldn't tell. Anyway, it was something to worry. They'd have to keep an eye on Aerith not only because the regular dangers of the slums. This threat was much more serious. If the antagonist group managed to capture Aerith, there was a good possibility they'd use her powers. Or worse, that they would use her to find the Promised Land, given it really existed. If so, the anti-Shinra group could become so powerful that they would be able to openly challenge Shinra's authority all over the world. No, that was a risk they could not run. Sad as it would be, it would be better to have Aerith gone for good than falling in wrong hands. But Tseng had sworn he would do everything he could to try to protect the precious girl.

The two Turks were leaving the building, still trying to digest what happened in the last hours. The blond man was trying to ignore the dark-haired man, but the dark-haired man grabbed his arm while they were crossing the gates of the building.

"Hey, listen here! I know we may have had an argument before, but we are still a team and I'm still the leader of our team. Stop acting like a child!"

"Well, man, I don't trust you anymore."

"Why? Alright, we have made a mistake. I have made a mistake. But now we will have to work together. You are still under my orders. And I'll make sure you will not make any bold advancements towards the girl."

"Bold advancements? What are you talking about?" The blond man tried to dismiss his partner comments, but he blushed.

"Yes, bold advancements. I know you are somewhat in love with her. But I'll make sure that will not put our mission in jeopardy. Imagine if you start making advancements on her and she ends distrusting you? What will we do, then? You will certainly be removed from the mission and eventually fired."

"What do you have in your mindt? Of course I'll do nothing to harm the mission. I feel nothing for Aerith..." The man's voice betrayed embarrassment

"Come on, you can't hide your infatuation for the girl! Well, anyway, I hope you don't do anything stupid this time."

"Anything stupid like... killing the girl?"

"Man..." the dark-haired man buried his face on the palm of his right hand, shaking his head negatively. "It won't take you anywhere. If I made a mistake, it is already done. Your stupid bickering won't change a thing. It will only make our mission and your life harder."

The blond man only dismissed the dark-haired man sermon. The dark-haired man, seeing it would be useless to keep talking to the blond man, left. He was really angry with his companion. He admitted he had made an error, he had treated the girl very badly when he shouldn't. But he didn't know the girl was so special. He was used to work as a thug for gangsters, pressing people to pay the fare, kidnapping people to scare them. He thought the girl was only someone worthless, who had done something that could harm Shinra. Though the company was the most powerful organization of the world, he knew that the Turks were nothing more than gangsters, acting in secrecy, doing questionable things, sometimes even illegal, just to protect the company's interests. It wasn't much different than the criminal organizations he had worked for in the past. How could he know that the girl would be some legend among the living, the last specimen of a precious and extinct race, a living fossil? Had the boss not been so secretive about the nature of the mission, he would have performed in a different way. Anyway, what was done, was done. Now, he had the task of protecting the girl from a phantom menace; an organization that no one really understood, nameless terrorists, without a defined objective, fighting Shinra, aiming who knows what. If his boss was right and the terrorists were after the girl, he would have a very difficult and dangerous task ahead. He would need all the cooperation he could get from his partner, but his partner started acting like a jerk. His instincts were telling him that soon he would be screwed.

Early in the morning, the blond man was already observing Aerith's house from a safe distance. During most of the day he did nothing but following the girl, wherever she went, keeping an eye open for any suspect movement nearby. Aerith noticed the man, but she didn't seem to be affected by his presence, as she was used to constant Shinra harassment. She acted almost naturally, performing her daily duties, tending the flowers in the church, making arrangements of flowers to sell, shopping for her mother and selling flowers. Late in the afternoon, the dark-haired man started his turn. The girl was not affected by his presence either, despite of what had happened the night before, when the man almost killed her. She just sold her flowers as usual and returned home late at night with some money, enough for she and her mother to survive one day more. The next day started similar as the day before and soon it had become a routine for the trio: the two men would take turns in watching every step the girl took and the girl would live her life as if nothing was happening, though she was aware she was being constantly watched by the two men.

As the days passed, the blond man couldn't stay quiet anymore, so infatuated he was with Aerith. He tried to force himself into Aerith's path, as if it was a random encounter, but he was mostly ignored by the girl. He also left some small gifts like chocolates and small souvenirs in strategic places, to be picked up by her. She was aware of his presence, aware of the not-so random encounters and aware of the gifts. She had a good time laughing about the man's naivety, which she considered cute. He was very young, probably younger than her and his clumsiness was charming. Aerith was annoyed by him, but she tried to avoid anything that could make him think she was interested on him. She was still fresh from her non-relationship with Zack. Besides, she still loved him, even after all those years of rejection. At least the blond man make her laugh, so his constantly watching on her had a lighter side that made her feel more comfortable.

The dark-haired man, though, didn't have any veiled interest on the girl. However, he had been uneasy because he regretted acting so rudely, he regretted threatening to kill her. He had something of personal nature to tell the girl. So, one day, he went straight to her.

"Aerith?"

"Yes?" Aerith was a bit surprised and blushed.

"I need to make some amends..."

"It is not necessary to apologize." Aerith shyly smiled at the man.

"Really? But..."

"Yes, everything is okay. Don't worry about what happened that night anymore.."

The girl turned her back on the man and left him before he could say anything else. The dark-haired man was left feeling worse than before talking to Aerith. He really expected to surprise the girl asking forgiveness, but in fact he ended being surprised by the girl, who didn't hold any negative feelings towards him and had already forgiven him.

After two weeks of constant watching, nothing suspect had happened. Even so, the Turks were not allowed to leave Aerith unwatched. The dark-haired man believed the threat against the girl was just in Tseng's mind and he had already asked Tseng to be relieved from that mission and relocated to a better one, but Tseng refused. It was very frustrating to stay hours in a corner, watching the surroundings, then following the girl by distance as she returned to her home. He had seen men harassing her, but not in a dangerous way, just because being a pretty young woman living in the slums lead her to be constantly harassed by men. Anyway, Aerith was used to deal with those situations, so, after the third time it happened and Aerith dealt easily with the harassment, the dark-haired man did not worry anymore.

What he didn't know was that the lack of purpose of his mission was set to end. Aerith was selling flowers in one large avenue, as there would be a famous romantic singer concert in a conceited concert hall and she expected to sell more flowers than in an average day. The dark-haired man was, as usual, doing his silent watch on the flower lady. Suddenly, he noticed a man, standing up in a dark corner. The man was not doing anything that would render him suspicious under normal circumstances, except that he was wearing a mask. But he was constantly staring at Aerith and that was enough to make the dark-haired man panic. He called Tseng to tell him of the threat and kept his gun ready, just in case.

The concert ended a bit later than the expected and Aerith stayed there for some extra time, selling flowers to people leaving the concert. She sold much more flowers than the usual, that day. As the crowd dispersed, the dark-haired man noticed the masked man had disappeared with the crowd. He feared the man would set an ambush in one of the nearby streets. When Aerith left the place to return home, all happy for being able to sell all her flowers, the dark-haired man followed her much closer than he used to. On her way to the train station, from where she would take the train home, the streets were somewhat crowded and well-lit, despite of the advanced hour. Aerith was not worried with possible threats, but she kept walking in a fast pace because she didn't want to lose the 11pm train, otherwise she'd have to wait for one hour and a half for the next train. She arrived at the station just on time to take the 11pm train, which was almost departing. For the dark-haired man, it meant bad luck. He didn't have the ticket yet and he was not able to take the train on time. He had lost the track of Aerith. He was angry with himself and desperate. He called Tseng.

"Tseng? We have a problem."

"_What is it?"_

"That mysterious man disappeared and Aerith made it safely to the train."

_"Yes..." _

"That is it."

"_So what is the problem?"_

_ "_I didn't make it... to the train..." His voice was fading out.

"_What! What are you saying?" _Tseng became angry immediately, as he learned what had happened.

"I lost the track of the girl."

"_Damn!"_

_ "_It was not my fault..."

"_Not your fault... not your fault... was it my fault?"_

_ "_No, no..."

"_Who was entitled to keep an eye on her? Me?"_

_ "_No..."

"_Well, you screwed it up again! The only thing we can do now is to hope she will eventually return home in safety."_

Tseng hung the phone. He was very angry with his subordinate failure, specially after the guy mentioned the presence of a suspect man stalking Aerith. He had to do something about that. He could not leave Aerith unprotected. As much as he hated to do it, he would have to leave his office and make sure Aertih was safe. If he hurried, he would be able to arrive at the slums before Aerith. So, he took two loaded guns and left his office. The elevator took some seconds to arrive and Tseng was so anxious that he hit the elevator gate with his fists, hurting them. The elevator arrived and Tseng pressed a dozen times the button of the garage floor. Arriving there, he got inside the car, the same which was used to kidnap Aerith, but now without the big Shinra stickers. Tseng left the garage in a hurry, scratching the paint of the car in the garage door. He didn't bother, though, as money to fix the car Shinra had plenty, but Aerith the world had only one. Tseng sped up through the streets in a dangerous way and almost caused an accident many times. For his luck, he reached the sector 8 station before the train.

Tseng parked the car in a nearby street and waited. Aerith's house was not very far from there, but it took her a fifteen-minute walk. Tseng considered giving Aerith a ride, but he opted for following her stealthily. Tseng wanted Aerith's protection operation to remain secret. He didn't know to which extent the anti-Shinra group was interested on the girl, but if they knew Shinra kept constant surveillance over the girl, they'd certainly try to kidnap or kill her, not matter what. Besides that, giving her a ride would leave him unable to react in face of a sudden attack. So he opted to stay in hiding.

After five minutes, the train arrived at the station. Very few people disembarked at that station, and Aerith was one who disembarked. She was carrying her empty wooden bucket and started walking down the street which took her to the slums, where she lived. Tseng followed her from a safe distance, enough for him to react and protect her if she was attacked. As Aerith advanced towards her home, Tseng got more and more anxious. He knew every step she took would make her closer to safety, but he wanted the distance to magically disappear. He knew as soon as she stepped in the market street, she would be market would have enough people to prevent an attack even in the late hours of the night. But he feared some dark alleys she'd have to cross before reaching the market.

While crossing one of the dark alleys which was surrounded by piles of trash, Aerith didn't notice that she was being watched, not only by Tseng, but also by some mysterious men. Suddenly, two masked men started advancing towards her, with swords in hand. Aerith was startled. She stopped walking and started considering her retreating possibilities. When she was turning her head to check whether she was surrounded or not, she felt a strange presence near her. When she turned her head to look what was causing that strange feeling on her, she saw a masked man almost grabbing her arm. In a desperate movement, she hit the man in the face with her bucket and started running towards a dark alley. The man who tried to grab her was a bit stunned by the hit, so he let the girl have a head start. The three men gave chase to her through the dark alleys. Tseng, who was shocked by the events unfolding before his eyes, followed suit.

Aerith was desperate. She knew the guys meant her harm. She had to run for her life. As much as she tried, her persecutors seemed to be shortening the distance. She tried to confuse her persecutors by taking turns and twists along the way, but the distance was not enough to make her stay out of sight. Every time Aerith risked to look back, she became more desperate, as the distance to the persecutors was shortening. She was panting, her feet and legs were sore. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep running for more than a couple hundred yards. When she was about to reach an intersection, she was scared by the sudden appearance of a masked man, holding a sword. She didn't have time to think, so she decided by instinct to take a path through the piles of garbage. Her momentum allowed her to travel over the garbage and jump to the other side of a high wall. Her persecutors were surprised by her move and hesitated for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the high wall, Aerith had had a hard fall on the ground, hurting her legs. She was panting, gasping for bits of fresh air. She was deadly tired, her joints hurt, breathing was painful. She was not used to long runs, specially running for her life. She was also feeling very frightened. All she wanted was to cringe her back to the wall and stay there indefinitely, but she knew that in matter of seconds her pursuers would be over her, so she started moving away from the spot she was. She was lost. She didn't know anymore how to go back to her home. The slums were so cluttered that she could be anywhere in the lower parts of Midgar. Anyway, it was better to be lost than dead, so she kept moving on.

After taking some random turns, partly walking, partly trying to run, Aerith thought she had heard footsteps behind her. The woman panicked. She was not able to run away anymore. There was no way out. She looked back and caught a glimpse of a man. Though she couldn't see who it exactly was, she was sure it was one of the masked men. The girl could hear from the footsteps that the man was running, so she started running again, but she knew she wouldn't be able to run for long. As the girl took a random turn, she started hearing the sound of more people running. She was definitely screwed and started feeling hopeless. As the flower girl turned her head to look back, she traveled over an iron bar, which sent her crashing on the ground. Her wooden bucket, that she was still holding during all the chase, rolled on the floor for several yards. She used her hands to prevent her face from hitting the ground, but she was injured during the fall. She couldn't walk anymore. She crawled behind a large trash container. Tears were falling from her eyes like a waterfall. The girl knew the men would find her in a few moments. Aerith was feeling hopeless. She was feeling that feeling of uselessness towards a certain death. She was feeling a strong fear of dying, a feeling that she had not felt since the last time she had seen Hojo. Where were the voices now? Where were the voices of the Planet?

Or maybe she was just exaggerating. Of course, the sight of strangers advancing towards her with their swords drawn didn't mean a good thing, but maybe it didn't mean such a bad thing. Would they kidnap her? Maybe. Would they do her some harm? She didn't know. She didn't know who they were. Aerith suspected they were members of that anti-Shinra group Tseng had mentioned. But would they be any worse than Shinra? She didn't know. She couldn't know. Her mind was filled with doubts. The girl knew people from Shinra were a bunch of crooks, rogues with money enough to play of ruling the world. But they were nothing more than a criminal organization which was responsible for all the suffering she had to endure living in Midgar slums. Would that anti-Shinra organization be any worse? Probably not. It was true that members from that organization had killed Shinra members mercilessly, but how many times Shinra has done the same with other people? How many people the Turks and the Soldier have killed mercilessly? That would be an unaccountable number. The biggest example was Zack. She knew Zack was not evil, but how many times he boasted having killed a bunch of criminals? If there was something Aerith hated in Zack was his boasting of having killed enemies. Blinded by his foolish desire of becoming a hero, Zack may have unnecessarily ended many lives that could have been spared. Aerith knew that, in war, it is necessary to kill some people eventually. Even so, it was not a matter of rejoicing. It was not something to boast about. It was something that should be used only as a last resource.

With her mind lost in her thoughts and clouded by anxiety, Aerith didn't notice that the footsteps could not be heard anymore. Instead, loud yells were reaching her ears, though she could not understand the exact words being said. She tried to concentrate in the discussion, but before she could make any sense of the words being yelled, she was startled by the loud crack of a gun, followed by a terrible wail. She froze in terror and cowered back, shivering. After some seconds, she heard other gun cracks and more wails of pain. She couldn't imagine what was happening over there, but surely it should be a terrifying scene. People were being shot. That was too much for her. Aerith was in shock. She felt as if her heart had stopped. It was as if her condition didn't matter anymore. All her thoughts were set in the scene she was overhearing from where she was hiding. If there was something she couldn't stand, it was violence, to see people suffering. She was a natural healer, she didn't want to see anyone injured. It was terrible to learn people were suffering and she was not able to help them.

Her anxiety only increased when she made sense of some words being yelled. It seemed to her as if she was hearing to some kind of plea. People pleading for have their lives to be spared. That was a terrible thing to hear. The pleas were ended by the loud crack of a gun. Aerith shivered. It was as if the shot was aimed at her. She could feel inside her mind the agony of a soul being taken back to the lifestream. A tortured soul, but still a person, with his feelings, tastes and thoughts. Not a bad person at all. No, that was terrible. Some seconds later, another gun crack and another soul departing to the lifestream. That was too much for Aerith to endure. Not only she was the witness of such horrible murders but also she could hear their souls lamenting their deaths inside her head. For what she could guess from their souls, they were not particularly evil men. Even if they were, they didn't deserve to be mercilessly murdered. That was too painful for Aerith. Some seconds more and another gun crack was heard. Aerith could feel the lament of soul of the third murdered man. The feeling was very painful. The planet would only talk to her on such occasions. The girl was not even thinking about herself anymore, so shocked she was. Though still in danger, she didn't care about her safety anymore. It was like a nightmare. And it should have been a regular night. She should be happy. She had sold all her flowers. She should be in the comfort of his home, dining, chatting with her mom. But she was there, witnessing terrible murders, fearing for her life. That couldn't be true. That couldn't be true. But yes, that was true.

It took some time for her to notice footsteps coming in her direction. The footsteps didn't sound like the ones she had heard before. The person was walking slowly. From what she could guess by the rhythm, the person seemed to be at ease. Could it be the murderer? Could it be possible that he would be so cold-blooded to leave the scene of his murders as if nothing had happened? Could it be that he or she was looking for Aerith? Could it be that Aerith was the next in his list? She started fearing for her life again. She cowered even further behind the trash container, hoping whoever was walking down the streets would not be able to see her. The gunfight didn't last more than a minute, but it could be enough for her to have disappeared. It was her last hope, she had to cling to it. She heard the person pass by the container and for a moment she felt a strong feeling of relief, but then the person stopped and started walking back towards her. She panicked again. She realized the person was directly towards her. She caught a glimpse of the person's legs and it was surely a man, judging by his shoes. The man approached the container and stopped. Aerith couldn't see the man, but she instinctively protected her head with her arms.

"Aerith?"

Aerith was shocked and relieved at the same time. She instantly recognized the deep bass voice as being from Tseng. She was relieved to learn the man meant her no harm, but she was shocked to learn that the cold-blooded murderer was Tseng.

"Tseng?" Her voice was shaken and almost inaudibly.

"Aerith... are you okay?"

"No... not really..." Aerith was still in shock.

"What happened?" Tseng peeked behind the trash container.

"I... hurt my foot... can't walk..." Aerith was still shivering.

"Oh, I see..." Tseng handed the girl's bucket to her. "Can I help you?"

"I... I... Tseng... what have... you done?"

"What?"

"With... those men...?"

"Ah, Aerith, I've just saved your life." Tseng was puzzled by Aerith's reaction.

"Why did... you do that?"

"It was necessary."

"It wasn't!" Aerith was angry. "It wasn't! You know it wasn't!"

"But, Aerith..."

"They were already injured! You had no reasons to murder them mercilessly!"

"Aerith... they were terrorists." Tseng couldn't understand Aerith's irritation.

"That doesn't mean they deserved to be killed. I can hear their lament inside my head."

"But they were evil..."

"They were not! Just because they were from an antagonist group, that doesn't mean they were evil! They were like you! They were just doing their work!"

"But they wanted to do you harm..."

"How can you know that? Did they tell you what they were up to?"

"But they tried to kidnap you..."

"Exactly what you did some days ago!" Aerith crossed her arms, in anger.

"Well, sorry, Aerith, but in war we must take some drastic measures."

"No, Tseng, it is wrong. You shouldn't have killed them."

"If I didn't, they'd come back and kill us."

"There is no excuse for what you have done, Tseng. It is never right to kill anyone. I could understand you if you eventually killed some guy fighting for your life, but I've heard they pleas. I've heard the despair in their voices. No, Tseng, there is no way to justify what you had just done today. I'll never accept any of your excuses. You just did a very bad thing today, Tseng!" Aerith started crying.

"Well, Aerith, we have different views on the subject. I did what I did thinking in your safety. I may be wrong, but I felt it was the right thing to do." Tseng shook his head.

"Oh, Tseng. What you have done is terrible! I don't know how you are able to act as if it was just common business."

"For me it is common business."

"I can't believe it, Tseng! You are not an evil man! No, you can't just do that without feeling remorse. Don't you feel regret for have murdered those men?"

"No." His tone was very cool.

"Tseng! I can't believe that... I can feel their souls crying inside my head... Why have you done it? Why?" Aerith broke down in tears.

"Aerith, come with me. I'll take you home."

"No! No! You monster!"

"Aertih..."

"No, no, no..."

Aerith lost control over herself. She stayed crying for several minutes. Tseng patiently watched the girl. He was feeling sorry for her. He didn't wan't to hurt her. But he needed to do what he had done. It was part of his job. It was important from Shinra. They have sent a message to the anti-Shinra group that they were not fools. They were ready for fighting. More than that, they were sending an important message to the group to not mess with Aerith. That was the most important thing. All in all, he only had done that to protect Aerith.

"Come with me, Aerith. I'll take you home."

"Tseng..." The girls slowly stood up and took her bucket.

"I hope you understand me, Aerith."

"I'm afraid I can't..." Looking down, Aerith followed Tseng.

"We have different views of life, Aerith. It is just that. Different views."

"Just different views? You are crazy, Tseng. You can't reduce your crimes to a mere difference of views."

"Oh, Aerith, let's not start it again."

"Alright, but it is still not right for me, Tseng. I'm still shocked. I don't think I'll ever get over it..."

"Anyway, Aerith... I hope we can still be friends."

"I don't think we can still be friends..."

"Listen, Aerith." Tseng stopped and held Aerith by her arms, staring at her eyes. "No matter what, I'll keep protecting you."

"No, Tseng." Aerith closed her eyes and shook her head. "Don't try to make it look like it was a good thing. You are just protecting me because your damned company has a veiled interest on me. You and the guys you had just killed are the same; you want me just because I'm not a regular girl. Just because I'm the last of my kind. I'm the last of that damned race! I have to carry all the crosses of the whole damned race on my shoulders! I wish I were just a normal girl. But if I knew I'd cause so much nuisance, I'd rather be a stillborn. If I was not a damned Ancient, those three guys would be alive now." Tears started running from Aerith's eyes. "Dead... just because I'm a damned Ancient... How can I live knowing they died... and I am to blame...?"

"Please, Aerith." Tseng hugged the girl. "Don't blame yourself for that."

"How can't I? If I were just a plain girl and not a stupid Ancient, they'd be alive now..."

"But you didn't do anything wrong, Aerith. Don't cry..."

The embrace lasted for some minutes. Tseng was known to be a cold-blooded man and he didn't feel comfortable embracing a crying girl. He had never comforted anyone before and he was annoyed to have to comfort Aerith. But he was more annoyed by the fact that Aerith was suffering a lot, even from things she was not responsible for. He tried to put himself on Aerith's shoes for a moment and it was really hard to be the last Ancient. The thought of Aerith disliking being an Ancient had never crossed his mind before, but now he could see clearly that she hated being and Ancient and why she hated being an Ancient. Though he didn't agree with some of her arguments, he realized that it was not an easy thing to be the last of the Ancients, so maybe he should treat her in a different manner from now on. That meant not looking at her only through Shinra eyes, but through his own human eyes.

Aerith was feeling terrible. Being an Ancient had always been a problem, a source of pain and suffering. First, the terrible Hojo experiments. Then, the creepy Planet speaking on her mind when she didn't need it. Then, the constant Shinra harassment, always with the possibility of falling into Hojo's hands again. Now, this anti-Shinra group and people being killed because of a stupid fight between two antagonist gangster groups, both interested in her with hideous intentions. She really wondered whether it wouldn't be better if she was dead. Or if she was just a common girl. But no, she had to carry all the heritage of her people on her shoulders. And she was just a weak and frail girl, a common young lady, who only longed for a decent job, some friends and eventually to get married and form a family. In other words, living a peaceful and ordinary life. But, as much as she tried to live an ordinary life, it was impossible. There was always someone or something putting itself in her way to happiness. By looking at her, no one could guess she was an Ancient. And no one could ever tell how much she had endured, how many tears she had shed, how much pain she had felt for being just the last of her kind.


End file.
